A Self-Examination

M y wife is an avid cyclist. Sometimes I’m with Tricia on her rides, and sometimes not. On this day, I wasn’t with her when she called and said, “I think I need you to come get me. Something is not right with my heart.”

Just up the road, I found Tricia lying in the grass, her bike laid down beside her. Since she is a nurse practitioner, she had already assessed her condition. And her Apple watch confirmed she was in V-tach (ventricular tachycardia) with a sustained heart rate of over 200 beats per minute. Not good.

We were home within minutes, and Tricia verified her arrhythmia with her own stethoscope. An ambulance ride, a hospital stay of several days, and surgery ushered in Tricia’s new normal.

Life creates the occasion for reflection when one you love tiptoes close to the threshold of death. As a result, I’m looking in her eyes a little longer. Tricia’s heart experience that day marked us as a couple. Thank God, she knew enough to assess her situation and act quickly.

It’s not every day we engage in a self-examination. Monitoring our physical health is a vital exercise. But perhaps a more important examination is to assess our spiritual health—checking the status of our relationship with God and our personal faithfulness.

Notice Paul’s words to the believers in the ancient city of Corinth. His encouragement in 2 Corinthians 13:5 is for us as well.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

Paul puts the responsibility on every believer to perform a self-examination. The purpose of this assessment is to determine if we are in the faith. But what does the phrase, in the faith, mean in this passage?

It’s likely some people will interpret the phrase, in the faith, as synonymous with being a Christian. But I’m convinced that would be a mistake. We’re never told in the Bible to examine our behavior to determine whether or not we’ve placed our faith in Jesus. The assurance of our salvation requires no behavioral inspection. We’re not saved by doing better things or appearing better than we once did. How many good things must we start doing and how many bad things must we stop doing to confirm a genuine salvation? That’s a hopeless exercise.

Instead, the assessment of our born-again experience comes simply by asking ourselves, “Have we believed in Jesus—that He is God who died in our place and offers the forgiveness of our sins so we can have life?” That’s it. Trying to find the assurance of our salvation by examining our behavior leads to what Michael Eaton calls, “the abyss of introspection.” It’s a bottomless pit of speculation and uncertainty. That kind of inward examination can never produce the assurance of salvation. Assurance of our salvation comes from only one place: the promises of God.

We must acknowledge that the phrase, in the faith, is not describing the same thing as the phrase, in Christ. To be in Christ is to be redeemed, saved, forgiven, born-again (1 Cor. 15:22, 2 Cor. 1:21, 5:17, Gal. 3:26, Eph. 2:6, 10, 1 Thess. 5:18).

But the phrase, in the faith, is different and may not be the experience of every Christian. Believers who choose to follow Jesus and seek to please Him are living life in the faith. Likewise, when a believer in Jesus prioritizes his or her life with Jesus, they are living in the faith. That’s why the biblical writers urge believers to, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). And that’s why the disciples in Asia Minor were exhorted to “continue in the faith” (Acts 14:22).

The Apostle Paul calls upon believers to build on their salvation by pursuing personal, spiritual growth—to be established in the faith. Notice his sincere plea in Colossians 2:6-7,

As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

To live in the faith results in the enjoyment of Jesus Christ in you (notice the words, in you, in 2 Cor. 13:5). Jesus describes the abiding relationship of the believer in John 15:4, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” To be in Christ positions us for the possibility of abiding in Christ—living victoriously in the faith and experiencing Christ in us!

When believers are urged to engage in a self-examination, that means we’re taking an honest look at how we’re doing with Jesus. Are our lives ordered in such a way that Jesus is indisputably the most important person to us? Are we growing toward Christlikeness? Are we experiencing the sweetness of fellowship with Jesus as we abide in Him? Are we living with the goal of pleasing God?

Since God is addressing believers in the 2 Corinthians 13:5 passage, what do we make of Paul’s warning that we might be disqualified? The word is better translated, disapproved. And it’s always used to describe believers who meet with Christ’s disapproval. Even Paul, himself, held out the possibility that he could receive Christ’s disapproval (1 Cor. 9:27). That’s why he was determined to run his race to please God. Any parent knows you can completely accept a child while not approving of their actions. The same is true with God and His children.

Our responsibility as believers is clear. We should engage in regular self-examination to assess our pursuit of Christ and our love for Him. We should immerse ourselves in the truth of God’s word and rely on the guidance of His Holy Spirit. And we should encourage one another toward wholehearted devotion to Jesus as we seek to live out our days in the faith.